The next series , while not as environmentally profound, is a depiction of what I see every morning on the way to work. For the benefit of first time readers, I work in a factory that requires me to travel 1 1/2 – 2 Hours every work day smack in the rural outskirts of Shanghai. Sounds tiring? You aren’t far from wrong.

However, I would have no regrets there. The last hour would see me getting off the last metro station in the district and embark on a 1 hour walk through the villages and farmland in Minhang Development Zone. Designated as an industrial area, the place was once fertile farmland, but slowly being encroached by factories and research institutes. In a matter of a few years, what was once padi fields, vegetable farms is now home to China’s satellite research centeres, ALSTORM metro train factory and everything that manufactures biscuits to electronics.

Here is where it gets interesting. While the villagers were employed by the factories and better off, none of them have the inclination of giving up their rural lifestyle. Money they earned was used to buy new tractors. The remaining fields instead of disappearing grew bigger. Soon, an incongrous landscape sprung up: Right among the factories and heavy machinery, there sprout vacant plots of greens as brinjals , watermelons and cucmbers. Sprawling vines tended to by their caretakers in factory wear before they go to work in the morning. I hope it is a final balance that this district will have to go through, and definately, these inhabitants have displayed the resilience and flexibility that is Chinese.